All Saints Day

Friday, November 01, 2013

All Saints Day

When: November 1st

The Christian holiday of All Saint's Day honors and recognizes all of the saints of the christian church, many of which were martyrs. The church sets this day aside to celebrate over 10,000 recognized saints. Historically, All Saints Day was known as Hallomas.

Did you know? All Saints Day and All Souls Day was originally in May. They were moved to November 1st and 2nd to downplay the Pagan holidays of Halloween (All Hallow's Eve) and Dia De Loss Muertos. Religious leaders felt these holidays were too popular at the time to ban outright. But, if moved the christian holidays to this time periods, the pagan holidays would slowly die away.......

The anti-royalist Union of Valencia attacks the Jews of Murviedro on the pretext that they are serfs of the King of Valencia and thus "royalists". (1348)

The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, painted by Michelangelo, is exhibited to the public for the first time. (1513)

The Strait of Magellan, the passage immediately south of mainland South America connecting the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans, is first discovered and navigated by European explorer Ferdinand Magellan during the first recorded circumnavigation voyage. (1520)

William Shakespeare's tragedy Othello is presented for the first time, at Whitehall Palace in London. (1604)

William Shakespeare's romantic comedy The Tempest is presented for the first time, at Whitehall Palace in London. (1611)

The British crown colony of New York is subdivided into 12 counties. (1683)

Lisbon earthquake: In Portugal, Lisbon is destroyed by a massive earthquake and tsunami, killing between sixty thousand and ninety thousand people. (1755)

The British Parliament enacts the Stamp Act on the 13 colonies in order to help pay for British military operations in North America. (1765)

US President John Adams becomes the first President of the United States to live in the Executive Mansion (later renamed the White House). (1800)

In Boston, Massachusetts, the first medical school for women, The Boston Female Medical School (which later merged with the Boston University School of Medicine), opens. (1848)

The current Cape Lookout, North Carolina, lighthouse is lit for the first time. Its first-order Fresnel lens can be seen for about 19 miles (30 kilometers), in good conditions. (1859)

American Civil War: US President Abraham Lincoln appoints George B. McClellan as the commander of the Union Army, replacing General Winfield Scott. (1861)

In the United States, the Weather Bureau (later renamed the National Weather Service) makes its first official meteorological forecast. (1870)

Thomas Edison films American sharpshooter Annie Oakley, which is instrumental in her hiring by Buffalo Bill for his Wild West Show. (1894)

A picture showing the unclad (bare) breasts of a woman appears in National Geographic magazine for the first time. (1896)

The first Library of Congress building opened its doors to the public. The Library had been housed in the Congressional Reading Room in the U.S. Capitol. (1897)

Sigma Phi Epsilon, the largest national male collegiate fraternity is established at Richmond College, in Richmond, VA. (1901)

The first dropping of a bomb from an airplane in combat, during the Italo-Turkish War. (1911)

World War I: the first British Royal Navy defeat of the war with Germany, the Battle of Coronel, is fought off of the western coast of Chile, in the Pacific, with the loss of HMS Good Hope and HMS Monmouth. (1914)

Operation Buster-Jangle: 6,500 American soldiers are exposed to 'Desert Rock' atomic explosions for training purposes in Nevada. Participation is not voluntary. (1951)

Operation Ivy – The United States successfully detonates the first large hydrogen bomb, codenamed "Mike" ["M" for megaton], in the Eniwetok atoll, located in the Marshall Islands in the central Pacific Ocean. The explosion had a yield of 10 megatons. (1952)

The Mackinac Bridge, the world's longest suspension bridge between anchorages at the time, opens to traffic connecting Michigan's upper and lower peninsulas. (1957)

Montreal Canadiens goaltender Jacques Plante wears a protective mask for the first time in an NHL game. (1959)

While campaigning for President of the United States, John F. Kennedy announces his idea of the Peace Corps. (1960)

Very interesting about moving the holiday. I'm no expert, but from casual reading, I gather that most of the Christian holidays were moved about to be near pagan holidays. Symbols and meaning of both were combined in some cases. All to promote Christianity while keeping the pagans satisfied. Or vice versa. I guess political correctness and fear of offending different belief systems are not really new concepts!